#2951
Baldwin RF-16
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Baldwin Locomotive Works· from 1950· first generation diesel-electric locomotive
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. New York Central Baldwin sharknose locomotive: Audio Visual Designs, Earlton, NY; photographer: R.R. Wallin· Public domain
- 2. PRR Baldwin RF16 9744: Craig Garver· Public domain
what is it?
The BLH RF-16 is a 1,625-horsepower (1,212 kW) cab unit-type diesel locomotive built for freight service by the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation between 1950 and 1953. All RF-16s were configured with a B-B wheel arrangement and ran on two AAR Type B two-axle road trucks, with all axles powered. A total of 109 cab-equipped A units were built, along with 51 cabless booster B units, for a total of 160 locomotives built.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 76 years ago, in 1950.
- 1.2 MW is about 14 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 20 African elephants (~6 t each).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1950–1953
- retired
- 1967
- status
- retired
- number built
- 109
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Baldwin Locomotive Works
- operators
- Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, Monongahela Railway, Delaware and Hudson Railway, Michigan Northern Railway, Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad
- top speed
- 113 km/h
- power
- 1.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′
- weight
- 121 t
- nicknames
- Sharknose
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4850587, Wikipedia: Baldwin RF-16 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.